![]() Staff members of magazines and Web sites need to aggressively pursue stories where no one else is looking. And write like your living depends on it.īelieve it or not, automotive journalism is a real job. Those are where you're most likely to break through, so start coming up with ideas. Inside Line needs immediate breaking news that's pertinent to its audience. Car and Driver needs all those small features at the front of the book. Look at what really makes up a publication or Web site and figure out what it is they need most it's not Ferrari road tests.Ī magazine like Hot Rod is always looking for well-written, cleanly photographed tech stories. And to get those contacts, you need to put yourself out there. To get noticed, you have to develop a network of contacts. I don't care about a resumé I care about clips. There are a ton of people waiting to work here, but they're not remotely qualified. "But it's questionable whether any of them are getting edited. "There are probably more people out there writing about and photographing cars than ever before," adds Freiburger. But doing it doesn't necessarily mean doing it well. And it's easy to start your own blog with an essentially zero-dollar investment. Of course, the proliferation of Web sites means anyone can become a "published" journalist. You need an enthusiast background to sell the 'cool' to the audience." "You need to write, shoot photos and market. "It's such an intricate matrix of stuff," David Freiburger notes. Some of that you only get from experience. You need to drive well and you need to know the history of cars. You need a real knowledge of how cars work and you have to be able to communicate it. "It's a very strange combination of skills," reveals Alterman. Your brain and your skills, however, matter a lot. Scott Oldham attended the New Jersey State School of Therapeutic Barbering. ![]() I have a degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara. Former Car and Driver Editor in Chief Csaba Csere has an engineering degree from MIT. In sum, your education may or may not matter much.Įddie Alterman has a degree in English, while David Freiburger spent a few haphazard weeks at Cal State Los Angeles and then dumped that for successive jobs at Burbank Dodge and the Glendale Speed Center. ![]() And once they've been met, we somehow convinced them we could solve their problems. No matter which channel each of us found, what we have in common is meeting people already established in the business. I self-published a parody of Car and Driver and sent it to every car magazine in the country. Scott Oldham, the editor in chief of and Inside Line, began by toting former CSK Publishing polyglot editor Cliff Gromer's camera bag around at car shows. I even wrote a feature about my own truck."ĭavid Freiburger - editor in chief of Hot Rod Magazine, Hot Rod Deluxe, and Hot Rod TV - began writing freelance stories while he was working in the automotive aftermarket and meeting journalists. And eventually that led me to a job at Four Wheeler. "My truck wasn't worth featuring in a magazine," says Stewart, "but I knew where they were going to be shooting features and I asked if I could tag along. We got friendly and he hired me full-time."įormer Popular Mechanics automotive editor Ben Stewart got his start by meeting magazine staffers at 4WD-truck shows. was moving and I helped them move from their house. "I went there to get a gofer job and did that at Automobile during my college career. "I went to the University of Michigan because it was in Ann Arbor and I wanted to work for Car and Driver or Automobile," explains Eddie Alterman who became the editor in chief of Car and Driver and last year. But you need to know the business and the culture that surrounds it to find a way in. There's no right way, no wrong way and no single way to get into the business of writing about cars. Then there are those who pursued their career with laserlike focus, relentless drive and some far-fetched (and effective) creative effort. And some were born into it since Dad was the editor in chief of Popular Mechanics. Others were hired as temps and wound up test drivers. There are people who wander into the car-writing business because their neighbor happened to be someone who knew someone. ![]() It's the second-most-asked question every automotive journalist gets, right after, "What's your favorite car?" And, well, the truth is, there are an infinite number of ways to break into the automotive-writing culture.
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